CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1869

Introduced by Assembly Member McKinnor
(Coauthor: Senator Bradford)

January 18, 2024

An act to add Section 5272.3 to the Business and Professions Code, relating to outdoor advertising.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1869, as introduced, McKinnor. Outdoor advertising displays: City of Hawthorne.
Existing law, the Outdoor Advertising Act, provides for the regulation by the Department of Transportation of an advertising display, as defined, within view of public highways. The act regulates, as an “off-premises advertising display,” a display along a highway that generally advertises business conducted or services rendered or goods produced or sold at a location other than the property where the display is located.
The act does not apply to “on-premises advertising displays,” which generally advertise business conducted or services rendered or goods produced or sold at the location where the display is located and which are separately regulated.
This bill would subject digital displays owned by the City of Hawthorne that would otherwise be regulated as off-premises advertising displays to treatment as on-premises advertising displays, if certain requirements are met.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Hawthorne.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 5272.3 is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read:

5272.3.
 (a) For purposes of this section, “municipal message center” means a digital advertising display owned by the City of Hawthorne that is subject to the ordinance described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).
(b) Subdivision (c) shall apply only if all of following requirements are met:
(1) The City of Hawthorne adopts an ordinance to approve and regulate municipal message centers. The ordinance shall specify all of the following:
(A) The maximum area of each display face on a municipal message center.
(B) The minimum separation between municipal message centers.
(C) Specifications and restrictions for the illumination of municipal message centers, including signage refresh rate, scrolling, and brightness.
(D) The hours of permissible operation for municipal message centers.
(2) Municipal message centers shall not cause the reduction of federal aid highway funds provided pursuant to Section 131 of Title 23 of the United States Code.
(3) There shall not be more than six municipal message centers, which shall placed within 660 feet of the rights-of-way of State Routes 105 and 405. Municipal message centers within 660 feet of the rights-of-way of State Routes 105 and 405 may have more than one display face.
(4) Municipal message centers shall promote only businesses and activities developed within the boundary limits of the City of Hawthorne. Municipal message centers shall not advertise products, goods, or services related to tobacco, firearms, or sexually explicit material.
(5) The municipal message centers shall be networked to every other municipal message center and shall be capable of displaying emergency messages, public service messages, and traffic control messages from a single control center.
(6) The municipal message centers shall prominently display the City of Hawthorne name and seal.
(7) The City of Hawthorne shall ensure that all municipal message centers provide a public benefit and comply with this subdivision and with the ordinance described in paragraph (1).
(c) If all the requirements in subdivision (b) are met, then both of the following shall apply:
(1) With the exception of this section, of Article 4 (commencing with Section 5300), and of Sections 5400 to 5404, inclusive, this chapter shall not apply to a municipal message center.
(2) A municipal message center shall be considered an on-premises advertising display, as defined in Section 5490.

SEC. 2.

 The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique circumstances in the City of Hawthorne regarding the need to provide emergency messages to the public and to communicate other locally significant information.